FACULTY COLLABORATION WITH AN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER IN ONLINE LEARNING
Purpose/Aims: The aim of this abstract is to show how faculty, working in collaboration with an instructional designer, can use emerging technologies to redesign course activities that strengthen students’ social presence, increase their identity with the program and facilitate trusting interpersonal relationships with their faculty.
Rationale/Background:Implementing the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in a statewide online program enhances inter-professional collaboration. A creative mind and a realistic grasp of technology are important to the success of bringing the CoI framework to the online environment. This includes social, cognitive and teaching presence.
Approach: This paper reviews both assignment examples, and technology choices. The highlighted activities include: student voiceover presentations, virtual meeting discussion session, virtual simulation, and blog reflections with faculty. One of the roles of an instructional designer is to match course activities and assignments with the right technology. It is important to ask exploratory questions of the faculty to determine the purpose of the assignment, the learning outcomes and how the activity fits in the scope of the course. This collaborative exploration contributes to strategic choices of technology that help students meaningfully connect online.
A demonstrative example is the 2 minute voiceover presentation “Passport to Success” that is placed in the first week of the first course of the program. By choosing the question “what is your passion for nursing?” students projected their individual personalities that allowed them to connect meaningfully to increase their social presence. Students also discovered any technological limitations of their computer system that would prevent them from completing the assignment. These issues were resolved before students moved into a higher-stakes graded assignment using the same technology later in the term.
In addition to consulting with faculty on technology choices in a course, instructional designers work collaboratively when writing assignment instructions. Designer and faculty consider how students will comprehend instructions and interpret visual cues in a course site. Brevity, consistency, and accurate word choice are important approaches to provide less-stressful completion of activities.
Outcomes Achieved:
- Students increased their social presence by communicating more purposefully in a trusting environment.
- Faculty improved their teaching presence and facilitated social processes that lead to meaningful and educational learning experiences.
Conclusion: With a focus to increase social presence, the RNBS program discovered how regular consultations with an instructional designer invited creative exploration into increasing students’ social presence in the curriculum.